ENERGY Minister Dr Doto Biteko has pointed finger at the Tanzania Geothermal Development Company (TGDC) for impeding the start of drilling geothermal wells at Lake Ngozi area in Mbeya Region.

Dr Biteko said this during official opening of the Energy Week exhibition in Parliamentary grounds recently, adding that TGDC is one of the subsidiaries of the Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco) which promised to implement the work in early this month but so far there is nothing to show.

“I have signalled a warning light on you TGDC; when I went to Mbeya, you told me that you were supposed to start drilling in April this year to get geothermal for electricity. I ask the permanent secretary to keep an eye on you to expedite the work,” he said.

Dr Biteko however said that the country now has sufficient electricity but worn out infrastructure has been causing power outages.

He said the government plans to make Tanesco win trust of its customers by changing negative attitude that every time there is a power outage, the problem is Tanesco.

He commended the performance of Tanesco for working tirelessly day and night to ensure that people get electricity service.

“As you know, some areas have been affected by floods. Tanesco officials are in some areas forced to use donkey carts to take poles to restore electricity service; workers sometimes do not sleep,” he said.

Dr Biteko added that due to accessibility of sufficient power, even the Kinyerezi 150 megawatt power station has not been switched on, explaining that the situation was due to the ongoing exercise of turning on machines at Julius Nyerere Hydropower Plant (JNHPP) project.

He said soon machine number eight at the JNHPP will be switched on and thus a total of 470 megawatts will be generated.

Dr Biteko said that the government’s strategy is to ensure that Tanzania is connected with its neighbouring countries, including Zambia, which used to buy seven megawatts due to drought, but that has declined to four. Other countries to be connected are Uganda and Kenya.